Light was five times as long as the whole when it was finished and yet were I to review it I make no doubt of making more Weeds and make it yet shorter In my opinion the wittiest Paragraf in Monsieur Voitures Letters which are all written with a great deal of Spirit and Humour is the Apology he makes for a long Letter 't is to this sense Pray Sir excuse the length of this for I had not sufficient time to write a shorter Than which nothing can be better and more agreeable The same Rule is good in Books as well as Letters a little time is enouf to write a great Book as they go now and a great deal not too much to write a little one as it should be Tho I am sensible this Chapter is too long yet the next will be longer CHAP. XXI A Digression containing some Criticisms THIS Chapter is guilty of great Crimes which it would be no small folly in me to conceal First it is too long and secondly which is worse 't is a Digression upon a Digression I esteem my self obligd to declare this to the Reader at the Threshold before he enters into the Chapter to the intent that if he pleases he may pass it over as a long Parenthesis and proceed to the next But if notwithstanding this Caution he will be so hardy or curious to read it and afterwards shall not like it let him blame himself not me for I honestly set up a Beacon to prevent his splitting upon this Rock I presume it will be objected Since you knew its faults why did you publish it I answer Not so much to trouble others as to ease my self and rid my hands of it For I am not now in circumstances to get it Companions or Play-fellows as I once intended being become impotent by the loss of my Tools my Books they being all burnt by that sudden Fire which broke out with irresistable violence after Midnight in Lombard-street Nov. 18. A. D. 1693. Neither can I endure to keep it at home alone and hear it eternally bawling for Liberty like a Cat pent up in a close Room and besides I am not without hopes there may be found some few to whom this will not appear so very much disagreeable Mr. Hill to whose account of Dr. Barrows Life I have so frequent recourse says he was addicted to Poetry and well skilld therein but that he never wrote any Satyrs to which I add that the greatest part of his Poems were written in Hexameter and Pentameter Verses after the manner of Ovid whom he had in great esteem preferring him even before the Divine Virgil I have heard him say that he believed Virgil could not have made the Metamorfosis so well as Ovid has Concerning which there have been often betwixt us several sharp but not bitter Disputes for herein I confess I differd from him tho we were as to all other things generally speaking of the same mind as Horace says of his Friend Fuscus Aristius and himself Hac in re scilicet una Mutum dissimiles ad caetera pene Gemelli Fraternis animis quicquid negat alter alter Annuimus pariter veteres notique Columbi That is In all things else we two the same course steerd Like Doves whom long acquaintance had endeard Only in this we disagreed It is next to an impossibility to write either good Sense or Latin in that sort of Metre wherein so many hobling Dactyls knock one against another How often has Martial Pontice Pontiliane crede mihi and innumerable such botches forcd to the use of them by writing thus in Shackles Well fare Horace who amongst all his variety of Verse never split upon this Rock It cannot be denied but that Ovid had Wit and a fluent negligent Stile an easie way of making Verses which as he says dropt from his Pen when he thought not of them Quicquid conabar dicere Carmen erat That is Whatever I endeavour to speak falls into a Verse without my designing it He could make a hundred Verses Stans pede in uno while he stood upon one Foot but either he wanted Judgment or Patience to File and Correct them It is recorded of him that his Judgment was good that he knew his Faults but he was enamourd of them and would not part with them I have read this Passage but I cannot tell where wanting Books to have recourse to The Story as well as I remember it is this Ovid shewed a Copy of his Verses to some of his learned Friends desiring their impartial Censure of them Upon perusal they approvd them all except one which they desird him to alter He replied he would be ruld by them and mend any Verse they should except against but one which he had such a kindness for that he could by no means part with it which was this Semivirumque Bovem Semibovemque Virum This was the Verse which his Friends had unanimously pitchd upon to be erasd or reformd Add to this Ovid generally stumbles at the Threshold which is a sign of ill Luck and shuffles like a Jade before he can get into his right goings beginning most of his Books ill His Metamorfosis begins thus In nova fert Animas mutatas dicere formas Corpora That is I intend to discourse of new Bodies in changd forms instead of Bodies changd into new forms This is not at all mended by the Grammarians making it a Figure if it is a Figure 't is such a one that a School-Boy would deserve whipping for imitating His Book De Tristibus begins thus Parve nec invideo sine me liber ibis in Urbem Hei mihi quod Domino non licet ire tuo Here I demand if he had envied his little Books Voyage to Rome and sed had been the second word in the first Verse in the place of nec would not the short Verse been as much or more to the purpose then than it is now Which of these two Sentences is most agreeable to Reason Little Book thou art going to Rome without me I envy thee not yet I account my self the most miserable Man in the World because my Circumstances will not permit me to accompany thee Or this Little Book thou wilt shortly see Rome and the Court of Augustus from which I am for ever banisht I envy this happiness and cannot sufficiently lament my Condition which makes it impossible for me to bear thee Company Ovids Art of Love begins thus Si quis in hoc Artem populo non novit Amandi Me legat lecto Carmine doctus erit What heinous Crime has Artem committed that deservd clapping into Little-Ease betwixt hoc and populo the Bark and the Tree Could he have considerd but half a minute he might have placed it more conveniently thus Si quis in hoc populo est qui Artem non novit Amandi Or in lieu of Artem he could have contented himself with an equivalent as Leges or Methodum
the Church with him he having a private way as I have said before thro' his Garden and the Cloysters when we were enter'd Come said he to me which think you will be the most convenient place for me to be buried in Oh my Lord said I may that day be far off Come come said he tell me your opinion for I am in earnest Whereupon we view'd several places and at last agreed upon that wherein he now lies interr'd so that it is not true of him what Horace said of a Noble Roman in his time Struis domos Immemor Sepulchri i. e. You build Palaces and are unmindful of your Grave While he was Bishop of Exeter he had made as I may call it the Notitiae of that Bishopric with no small pains and industry which he bestow'd upon his removal to Salisbury upon Bishop Sparrow his Successor which prov'd not only an ease but a light and guide to him in the management of his Affairs After he settled at Salisbury he began and in a short time finish'd such another Book for that Diocese wherein were particulariz'd all the Rectories and Vicarages in that Bishopric all the Patrons Names with their undoubted and disputable Titles as also the Names of all the Incumbents with their several qualifications as to Conformity or Nonconformity Learning or Ignorance peaceable or contentious Conversation Orthodox or Heretical Opinion good or scandalous Lives for all which he had fram'd peculiar Marks which he shew'd and explain'd to me He found by daily experience that this stood him in great stead and did him eminent service For when any Clergy-man of his Diocese came to him as soon as he heard his Name he knew his Character and could give a shrewd guess at his business and so was out of danger of being surprizd He had not been long thus employd after his arrival at Salisbury when he was seizd with a violent Looseness and a Scorbutical Atrosie for which by Dr. Sydenhams advice he betook himself to riding upon Salisbury Plains which he continued the latter part of the Summer all the Autumn and as often as the Weather permitted in Winter That he might perform this Exercise with more convenience and not neglect the Affairs of his Bishipric he borrowed a House of the Earl of Abington at Bishops-Lavington situated in a pleasant and healthful Air near the End of the Plains Northward of Salisbury and the Center of Wiltshire and so more convenient for any of that County who had business with him than Salisbury it was also about four miles distant from the Devizes a good Market-Town Hence he set out every day except Sundays if the Weather permitted nay and sometimes when it was not seasonable for we have been often caught in Storms of Rain and Snow and forcd to seek shelter on the Lee-side of the next Hay-Rick we could gallop to We us'd to ride ten miles forwards or tantamount by our Watches before we returnd and after Dinner we repeated the same or the like Journey The Bishop continued this Exercise till upon account he had travelld more than three thousand miles The longer he rid the stronger he grew so that he did not only tire me but even the Grooms and Servants who usd to attend him that he has sometimes been forcd to content himself with the Company of one of his meanest Servants This Exercise set him right and I may truly say it was the only time that ever any Fysicians Recipe did him good yet he was a great lover of them and their Prescriptions and very Liberal I may say Prodigal in his Fees to them He also delighted much in Fysic Books which wrought the Effect upon him which they usually do upon Hypocondriacal Persons that is made him fancy that he had those Diseases which he there found describd and accordingly take Remedies for them He would take Pills and Potions when he had no need of them from which not only I endeavourd to divert him telling him 't was spending the Ammunition before the Town was besiegd but even Mr. Eyres his Apothecary a very honest and skilful Person who died Mayor of Salisbury has joynd with me in that request even against his own Interest To keep his Diocese in Conformity he took great care to settle able Ministers in the great Market and Borough Towns as Reading Abingdon Newbery the Devizes Warminster c. and because they are for the most part Vicarages of small value as Prebends in the Church fell void he bestowd them on the Ministers of these Towns He also us'd his endeavour to suppress Conventicles which so angerd that Party that in the Year 1669. they forgd a Petition against him under the Hands of some chief Clothiers pretending that they were Molested and their Trade ruind and that some of them imployd a Thousand Men others eight Hundred and that this Persecution took away the Livelihood of eight Thousand Men Women and Children But it was made appear at the Council-Table that this Petition was a notorious Libel and that none of those there mentiond to be Persecuted and Ruind were so much as Summond into the Ecclesiastical Court as also that many whose Names were subscribd to that Petition knew nothing of it So that instead of lessening the Bishops Favour with the King they augmented it Let this be said once for all he was no Violent Man nor of a Persecuting Spirit as these Petitioners represented him but if at any time he was more active than ordinary against the Dissenters it was by express Command from the Court sometimes by Letters and sometimes given in Charges by the Judges of the Assizes which Councils alterd frequently now in favour of the Dissenters and then again in opposition to them as it is well known to those who livd then and had the least insight into public Affairs 'T is true he was for the Act against Conventicles and labour'd much to get it pass not without the Order and Direction of the greatest Authority both Civil and Ecclesiastical not out of Enmity to the Dissenters Persons as they unjustly suggested but of Love to the repose and welfare of the Government for he believd if the growth of them were not timely suppressed it would either cause a necessity of a standing Army to preserve the Peace or a general Toleration which would end in Popery whether all things then had an apparent tendancy That Act had this Effect it shewd the Dissenters were not so numerous and considerable as they gave themselves out to be designing thereby to make the Government believe it was impracticable to quell them for where this Act was duely executed it put an end to their Meetings as it was evident in his Diocese for in Salisbury there was not one Conventicle left and but a few in the skirts of Wiltshire bordering upon Somerset-shire where for want of a settled Militia by reason of the non-age of the Duke of Somerset the Lord-Lieutenant of that County
have forgot the Travellers were so many that we were forced to Sup in a Barn upon several Tables and Forms there being no room in the Inn capable of so great a Company The Supper and Wine was good and I had taken a chearful Cup tho not to excess yet sufficient to cause me to do that which otherwise I should not have done The Scholars of Oxford and I amongst the rest had a foolish Frolic when they were in their Merriment to twirle round the Hats of those who sate near them and call them Cuckolds This did I not considering where or in what Company I was to a French Gentleman who sate over-against me upon which he immediately leaps from his Seat runs to me and kisses me on both Cheeks adding these words Sir I am more obliged to you than to any Person in the World And why Sir replied I. Because said he you have pickt me out for so good a naturd Man that would not take this action of yours for an Affront I replied with much shame Sir you have Cured me I humbly thank you for it had I met with a Person of less discretion who could not distinguish betwixt an ignorant Strangers Frolic and a designd Affront it might have endangered my Life whereas I shall now only lose an ill Custom which is better lost than retaind But to return to Dr. Rooke He had with great Study and many Observations almost completed the Theory of the Satellites of Iupiter I say almost for he told me he wanted but one Observation more upon such a Night which happened when he was sick in Bed and very near his death He desired me to go to the Society who were then sitting and present his Service to them and acquaint them that if he had been in Health to have made an Observation that ensuing Night he should have compleated the Theory of the Satellites of Iupiter but since now it was impossible for him to do it he desired some others might be employed but nothing came of it and his Papers which he left to the Bishop of Exeter for ought I know have since perisht Dr. Scarboroughs House was as I have declared before in the Third Chapter the Rendezvous of most of the learned Men about London especially of those of the Royal Party in the Year 1649 but how long before I cannot exactly pronounce but I guess it must be about three Years that is from the Surrender of Oxford after the King had made his escape thence in disguise and retird to the Scotch Army who then in conjunction with the English besieged Newark Anno Dom. 1646. At which time Dr. Scarborough left Oxford and began to practice in London amongst those who frequented his House was Mr. Hobbs then newly arrived from France where he had obtained a great reputation for his Book De Cive which is a good Book in the main and much better than his Leviathan for in the first there is Verbum Sapienti enouf said to let the intelligent Reader know what he would be at but in his Leviathan he spreads his Butter so thin that the courseness of his Bread is plainly perceived under it This Mr. Hobbs I say was just come from Paris in order to Print his Leviathan at London to curry favour with the Government He had a good conceit of himself and was impatient of Contradiction As he was Older than any of that Convention he also thought himself Wiser if any one objected against his Dictates he would leave the Company in a passion saying his business was to Teach not Dispute He had entertaind an aversion to Dr. Ward for having written something against him as we have mentioned in the Fourth Chapter and before he would enter into the Assembly he would enquire if Dr. Ward was there and if he came not in or if Dr. Ward came thither while he was there Mr. Hobbs would immediately leave the Company So that Dr. Ward tho he much desird it never had any conversation with Mr. Hobbs About this time Mr. Hobbs published a little Treatise concerning Mathematics wherein amongst other things he pretends to give the Square of a Circle which when Mr. Rooke read and considerd he found it false and went to Mr. Hobbs to acquaint him with it but he had no patience to hear him therefore when he went next to visit Mr. Hobbs he carried with him a Confutation of his Quadrature and left it behind him at his departure Mr. Hobbs finds and reads it and by want of attention casts it up wrong for it was accurately Calculated and truly written and thence insultingly concludes since that Learned Persons Confutation was false his own Quadrature must of necessity be true A Year or two before Mr. Rookes death the Marquis of Dorchester who professd so great knowledge in almost all sorts of Learning being a Doctor of Fysic admitted into the College and practising a Counsellour at Common Law and at Doctors-Commons c. was pleasd to make choice of Mr. Rooke for his Companion and Fellow-labourer in Filosofy and Mathematics the Marquis lived then at his House at Highgate from whence every Wednesday he used to bring Mr. Rooke in his Coach to the Royal Society then sitting at Gresham-College The last time Mr. Rooke came from thence he walkd it and that so fast in the heat of Summer that he sweat and caught Cold upon it and finding himself much indisposd lodgd at his Chamber in the College that Night Next morning I went to visit him and perceived his Countenance much altered more than is usual in sick Persons in so short a time he was not very hot nor was his Pulse high his Feaver being Internal and very Malignant All the best Fysicians in London for they were all his Friends and Acquaintance came to see him and went away presently shaking their Heads and despairing of his recovery but yet that they might seem to do something they ordered him to Bleed to be Blisterd to have Plaisters applied to his Wrists and the soles of his Feet when the Surgeon came he appointed him to open such a Vein for under that there lies no Artery this he did to prevent an Aneurism He made a Nuncupatory Will leaving what he had to his old Friend Dr. Ward then newly nominated to the Bishopric of Exeter the Bishop Buried him decently at St. Martins Outwich near Gresham-College and his Corps was attended to the Grave by most of the Fellows of the Royal Society who were then in Town lamenting theirs and the Learned Worlds loss In his Will he ordered that his Executor might receive what was due to him by Bond if they who were bound did proffer the payment willingly but I would not said he have him Sue the Bonds for as I never was in Law or had any Contention with any Man in my life neither would I be after my death In the Memory of his deceased Friend Bishop Ward gave to the Royal Society a
Reader not to diminish their Reputation It cannot be denied they were both great Men especially Ovid his Metamorfosis is a Noble Piece the Language Lofty and Elegant it contains many excellent Descriptions and pathetical Orations and the Connexion of the Fables is admirable yet I would not have him equalizd much less preferrd to the Divine Virgil. Ovid I confess says that he intended to have mended his Metamorfosis but he deferrd it till it was too late It should have been done whilst he was in Rome and Prosperity had he done it then he might have been a formidable Competitor with Virgil for the Crown of Bays but when he went into Exile he left his Wit behind as appears by his Book De Tristibus This was the difference betwixt these two Poets Ovid could never begin and Virgil make an end of Correcting as appears by his ordering his Eneads to be burnt So that t is evident they did not please him tho then brought to the perfection wherein we now have them and they had been consumd to Ashes to the irreparable loss of the Learned World had not Augustus opportunely interposd his Soveraign Authority and dispensed with the Testamental Laws as appears by those Verses Quin percat potius legum vencranda potestas c. Ovid says he burnt his Metamorfosis when he left Rome but finding he could not wholly stifle it there being many Copies thereof in several hands he was willing it should live and have six Verses which he mentions prefixd before it they are in the First Book De Tristibus but hear him speak in his own words Hos quoque sex Versus in prima Fronte Libelli Si proponendos esse putabis habe That is All you who have my Book if you think fit I' th Front cause these six Verses to be writ The Verses are these Orba Parente suo Quicunque volumina Cernis His saltem vestra detur in Urbe locus Quoque magis faveas non sunt haec edita ab ipso Sed quasi de domino funcre rapta sui Quicquid in his igitur vitii rude carmen habebit Emendaturus si licuisset eram Which may be thus made English If these poor Orfan Books at Rome appear Make them a hearty Welcome and good Chear They much impatience to get loose exprest And would not stay till they were better drest Till I at least their greater faults had mâ—nded Which had I livd I faithfully intended Or these out of the Third Book which will serve as well Sunt quoque mutatae ter quinque volumina formae Carmina de Domini funere rapta sui Illud opus poluit si non prius ipse perissem Certius à summa nomen habere manu Nunc incorrectum Populi pervenit in ora In Populi quicquam si tamen ore mei est In English thus Stories of Men and Gods into strange shapes Transformd the better to conceal their Rapes Which I at Rome in fifteen Books compild Whilst Fortune and Augustus on me smild Now uncorrect through many hands they move If many yet poor banisht Ovid Love Both which Copies are indifferent so much does Adversity depress the Spirits of those who stand not upon the sure basis of Vertue To conclude this long but I hope not tedious Chapter All Ages and Countries even ours might produce excellent Poets Si non offenderit unum Quemque Poetarum limae labor mora That is If every one of them were not terrified and discouragd by the prospect of the great labour which they must undergo and the length of time which must be employd in filing and polishing CHAP. XXII Of Doctor Barrow ANno Domini 1672 Doctor Wilkins Bishop of Chester departed this Life and that eminently Learned Divine Doctor Pearson succeeded him by which Promotion the Mastership of Trinity-College in Cambridge became vacant this King Charles conferrd upon Dr Barrow and speaking of it afterwards he said he had given it to the best Scholar in England Dr. Barrow was then the Kings Chaplain in Ordinary and much in favour with the Duke of Buckingham then Chancellor of the University of Cambridge as also of Gilbert Lord Archbishop of Canterbury both which were ready if there had been any need to have given him their assistance to obtain this Place When the Patent for the Mastership was brought him wherein there was a clause permitting him to Marry as it had been made before for some of his Predecessors he causd the Grant to be alterd judging it not agreeable to the Statutes from which he neither desird nor would accept any Dispensation Nay he chose rather to be at the expence of double Fees and procure a new Patent without the Marrying Clause than perpetually to stand upon his Guard against the Sieges Batteries and Importunities which he foresaw that honourable and profitable Preferment would expose him to Imitatus Castora qui se Eunuchum ipse facit c. in this wisely imitating the Beaver who knows for what he is hunted Thus making Matrimony a forfeiture of his Preferment it was as effectual a way to secure him from all dangers of that kind as Castration it self could have been for Women in this Age like Hens desire only to Lay where they see Nest-Eggs To shew his Humility and care of the College Revenue he remitted to them the charge of keeping a Coach for his time which they had done a long while before for other Masters This Preferment so well bestowd gladded the hearts not only of the Members of that College but of the University and all lovers of Learning Upon this he left the Bishop of Salisbury and was then so kind to me that he earnestly invited me to spend one Winter with him at Cambridge few Arguments were sufficient to make me yield my consent The last time he was in London whither he came as it is customary to the Election of Westminster he went to Knightsbridge to give the Bishop of Salisbury a visit and then made me engage my word to come to him at Trinity-College immediately after the Michaelmas ensuing I cannot express the rapture of the joy I was in having as I thought so near a prospect of his charming and instructive Conversation I fancied it would be a Heaven upon Earth for he was immensly rich in Learning and very liberal and communicative of it delighting in nothing more than to impart to others if they desired it whatever he had attaind by much time and study but of a sudden all my hopes vanisht and were melted like Snow before the Sun Some few days after he came again to Knightsbridge and sate down to Dinner but I observed he did not eat Whereupon I askd him how it was with him He answerd that he had a slight Indisposition hanging upon him with which he had struggled two or three days and that he hopd by Fasting and Opium to get it off as he had removd another and more dangerous Sickness at Constantinople some
care of his Nieces and provided them Husbands or to speak more truly they married themselves to deserving Men and he preferred their Husbands I remember he once shew'd me a Letter he had lately received from a Sister of his who was a Dissenter which began thus Brother for she would not call a Bishop Lord Since there is Corn in Egypt it is not meet that the Children of Israel should want I cannot say that this Address prevailed with him but I am sure it did not hinder him from filling her Sack I will anticipate no more of the Bishops Life but henceforwards proceed methodically He was born at Buntingford in the year of our Lord 1618 famous for the appearing and long duration of a great Comet which some will have to prognosticate the German Wars which happened not long after but I may as truly say it foreboded the Greatness of this Man and I do as much believe the one as the other that is not at all His good Mother whom we have mentioned in the beginning of this Chapter taught him her self till he was fit for the Grammar School bending the young Twig to Vertue and inculcating to him all things that were good and praise-worthy wherewith he was so well imbued that he lost not the Savour of her Education till his death I have often heard him say that the Precepts which his Mother gave him both Moral and Political were not inferiour to those which he afterwards found in the best Filosofers He had his first rudiments of Latin in the Grammar School at Buntingford tho not the benefit of an happy Institution his Master being a weak Man yet by the encouragement of his Mother and his own Industry and Parts he made such improvement that by competent Judges he was esteemed fit for the University at the age of fourteen years and accordingly he was sent to Cambridge and admitted into Sidney College Anno Dom. 1632. He was recommended to Doctor Samuel Ward the Master of that College by Mr. Alexander Strange Vicar of Buntingford a Person of great Integrity and Piety by whose care and solicitation the Chapel and School-house of that place were erected This Dr. Samuel Ward was a Person of that eminency for Piety and Learning that King Iames I. made choice of him amongst others to assist at the Synod of Dort and a great Friend to Mr. Strange upon whose Recommendation he took young Seth into his more especial care lodging him in his own Apartment and allowing him the use of the Library in a word treating him as if he had been his own and onely Son CHAP. III. Of his being at Cambridge WHEN he first went to the University he was young and low of stature and as he walked about the streets the Doctors and other grave Men would frequently lay their Hands upon his white Head for he had very fair Hair and ask him of what College he was and of what standing and such like Questions which was so great a vexation to him that he was asham'd to go into the Town and as it were forc'd to stay in the College and study I said before that he had the benefit of the College Library and our young Student shew'd this Favour was not ill bestow'd upon him by making good use of it and so happily improving that advantage that in a short time he was taken notice of not only in that College but also in the University as a Youth of great Hopes and Learning beyond what was usual in one of his age and standing All his Improvement was the product of his happy Genius and Love to Learning and not due to any Instructions he received either from his School-master or Tutor for Mr. Pendrith his Tutor tho he was a very honest Man yet he was no Conjurer nor of any fame for Learning I have often heard the Bishop repeat some part of his Tutors Speeches which never fail'd to make the Auditory laugh To omit his other Studies for there were no Regions of Learning which he had not visited I think it not improper here to relate that his Genius led him to those which are above vulgar Capacities and require a good Head and great Application of Mind to understand In the College Library he found by chance some Books that treated of the Mathematics and they being wholly new to him he inquired all the College over for a Guide to instruct him that way but all his Search was in vain these Books were Greek I mean unintelligible to all the Fellows of the College Nevertheless he took courage and attempted them himself proprio Marte without any Confederates or Assistance or Intelligence in that Countrey and that with so good Success that in a short time he not only discovered those Indies but conquer'd several Kingdoms therein and brought thence a great part of their Treasure which he shew'd publicly to the whole University not long after When he was Sosister he disputed in those Sciences more like a Master than a Learner which Disputation Dr. Bambridge heard greatly esteemed and commended This was the same Dr. Bambridge who was afterwards Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford a learned and good Mathematician yet there goes a Story of him which was in many Scholars Mouths when I was first admitted there That he put upon the School Gate an Affiche or written Paper as the Custom is giving notice at what time and upon what Subject the Professor will read which ended in these Words Lecturus de Polis Axis under which was written by an unknown Hand as follows Doctor Bambridge came from Cambridge To read De â—olis Axis Let him go back again like a Dunce as he came And learn a new Syntaxis But this by the by let us return to our Charge at his Act for Batchelour of Arts his Questions were concerning the Iulian and Gregorian Account of the Year which gave occasion to Mr. Thorndike then Proctor to take especial notice of him and intitled him to the Acquaintance and Friendship of most of his ingenious Contemporaries amongst whom some prov'd afterwards very eminent as Dr. Pearson the learned Bishop of Chester Sir Charles Scarborough Mr. Rook c. Of some of them I shall have occasion to speak elsewhere In the year 1640. Dr. Cousins was Vice-chancellour and he pitcht upon Mr. Ward to be Praevaricator which in Oxford we call Terrae-filius and in that place he behaved himself to the general Satisfaction of the Auditory but yet it must be acknowledged that the Vice-chancellour took some offence at his Speech and suspended him his Degree Dr. Cousins was not an Enemy to Wit but perhaps he thought not fit to allow it to be so freely spoken in so sacred a Place I say he took some offence against him but whether 't was given or only taken I determine not but however the next day before the end of the Commencement for what at Oxford is called the Act is stiled by that Name
at Cambridge he revers'd his Censure The Reader may imagine his Fault was not great when so severe a Judge as Bishop Cousins should impose no greater Punishment upon him and take it off in so short a time I had not mention'd this his Suspension neither ought I had it not many years after made a great noise at Oxford which we shall mention in its proper place Both Dr. Cousins and Mr. Ward were not long after Fellow Sufferers in another and far greater Cause and he certainly suffer'd without any Fault then whatever he did before The Civil Wars breaking out the Effects of them were first felt by the Bishops and afterwards by the Universities Cambridge suffer'd first lying in the associated Counties and subject to the Parliaments Power Oxford which was then a Garrison and the Kings Head-quarters drank of the same bitter Cup some years after At Cambridge several Heads and Fellows of Colleges and Halls were imprisoned for refusing the Covenant some in the Town and some in St. Iohns College made a Gaol by the Parliament Forces commanded by the Earl of Manchester and amongst the rest Dr. Samuel Ward Master of Sidney College was imprisoned whither Mr. Ward accompanied him voluntarily and submitted to that Confinement that he might assist so good a Man and so great a Friend in that Extremity I have heard him say that Imprisonment seem'd at first to him very uneasie but after he had been a little time used to it he liked it well enouf and could have been contented not to have stir'd out all the days of his Life The great Inconvenience of so close a Confinement in the heighth of a hot Summer caused some of Doctor Wards Friends to mediate for his Removal at least for some Weeks which was granted and in the beginning of August the Doctor was permitted to go to his own House to which also Mr. Ward accompanied him and carefully ministred unto him Within a Months time after his Inlargement the good old Man fell into a dangerous Distemper caused by his Imprisonment whereof he died the seventh of September following in the year of our Lord 1643. Mr. Ward who never left him was with him in the last moments of his Life and closed his Eyes after having received his last Words which were these God bless the King and my Lord Hopton who then commanded a great Army in the West What befel him afterwards during his stay at Cambridge shall be the Subject of the next Chapter CHAP. IV. A Continuation of the Precedent Matter UPON the Death of Dr. Ward the Fellows assembled to chuse a new Master Mr. Ward with nine of them gave their Suffrages for Mr. Thorndike of Trinity College for Mr. Minshull there were eight Votes including his own but while they were at the Election a Band of Soldiers rusht in upon them and forcibly carried away Mr. Parsons one of those Fellows who voted for Mr. Thorndike so that the number of Suffrages for Mr. Mynshull his own being accounted for one was equal to those Mr Thorndike had Upon which Mr. Mynshull was admitted Master the other eight only protesting against it being ill advised for they should have adherd to their Votes Two of them whereof Mr. Ward was one went to Oxford and brought thence a Mandamus from the King commanding Mr. Mynshull and the Fellows of Sidney College to repair thither and give an account of their Proceedings as to that Election this Mandamus or peremtory Summons was fix'd upon the Chapel door by Mr. Linnet who was afterwards a Fellow of Trinity College but at that time attended on Mr. Thorndike On the other side one Mr. Bertie a Kinsman of the Earl of Lindsey being one of those who voted for Mr. Mynshull was also sent to Oxford in his behalf this Gentleman by the Assistance and Mediation of my Lord of Lindsey procur'd an Order from the King to confirm Mr. Mynshulls Election but he not thinking this Title sufficient did corroborate it with the Broad Seal to which Mr. Thorndike consented Mr. Mynshull paying him and the rest of the Fellows the Charges they had been at in the Management of that Affair amounting to about an hundred pound The next Spring Mr. Ward and Mr. Gibson were summoned to appear before the Committee of Visitors then sitting at Trinity College and tender'd the Covenant and other Oaths which they refused declaring themselves unsatisfied as to the Lawfulness of them Then they desired to know if the Committee had any Crime to object against them they answered they had not they declared the reason why they ask'd was that they understood some were ejected for not taking the Covenant and others for Immoralities to which they received this Answer that those were words of course put into all their Orders of Ejection Such was the Carriage of those Commissioners not only to take away the Livelyhood of those they expell'd but also their good Name and Reputation and so render them unpitied and not worthy to be relieved In the Month of August following Mr. Ward who was then absent received the news that his Ejection was voted and put into Execution Being now exil'd from Cambridge he diverted himself with Dr. Wards Relations in and about London for a season and sometimes with the Reverend Divine and Learned Mathematician Mr. William Oughtred invited thereto by his Love to those Sciences in which Mr. Oughtred had shew'd his Ability and acquir'd a great Name by publishing his Clavis Mathematicae a little Book as to the bulk but a great one as to the Contents as the understanding Reader must acknowledge Mr. Ward was so well known and of so good a reputation at Cambridge that in his Exile he wanted not places of resort and refuge He was invited by the E. of Carlile and several other Persons of high Quality with proffers of large and honourable Pensions to come and reside in their Families Nay I have heard him say that even then when he was in those straights and might have truly said Silver or Gold or Preferment I have none he was proffer'd several rich Matches but he had no inclination to Matrimony whilst he labour'd under those Circumstances At last he chose to accept the Invitation or to speak more properly to yield to the importunity of his Friend and Country-man Ralf Freeman Esquire of Aspenden in Hertfordshire in the Parish wherein he suck'd his first Milk and imbib'd his first rudiments of Vertue about five and twenty mile distant from Ladon he instructed his Sons and continued there off and on till the Year 1649. Then he was earnestly invited by my Lord Wenman of Tame-Park in Oxfordshire about ten miles distant from that City thither he went and liv'd some time with him rather as a Companion than Chaplain it being more safe for him to be near Oxford than Cambridge and as it prov'd in the event much more advantageous for this was the first visible step to his preferment He was not in
Trinity-College after Mr. Hawes had resignd he was chosen by the Suffrages of the Fellows who had a legal Authority to Elect neither can he by accepting of this Place be truly accounted to put Dr. Potter who was Ejected by the Visitors many Years before as we have declard in the seventh Chapter or so much as to keep him out for he was as the Times went then uncapable of being Elected and of enjoying it if he had been chosen As to the last part of his Accusation His boasting of his Loyalty to the King and Church after his Majestys Restoration Why might he not glory in a laudable Action and a Matter of Truth For as we have made it appear in the second Chapter he was an Actor and great Sufferer in that Good Cause Mr. Wood had for a long time usd the liberty to revile and speak disrespectfully of several Eminent Persons movd thereunto either by a private pique or to please some others who lookd upon their Promotion with an Evil Eye this I say he had done for a long time with Impunity but Vengeance or Punishment at last tho late overtook him It cannot be said of him Distulit in seram commissa piacula mortem that is He went to his Grave unpunisht for he livd to see his Book censurd and burnt himself expelld the University obligd to Recant and give security not to offend any more in that kind and this he underwent for writing too lavishly concerning a Great Man dead long since upon the complaints of some of his Relations whereof take this Authentic Proof as it is Registred in the Chancellors Court at Oxford and Printed by Authority in the Gazette Numb 2893 from Monday the 31. of Iuly to Thursday August 3. 1693 in these words Oxford Iuly 31. 1693. ON the 29 th Instant Anthony A. Wood was Condemnd in the Chancellors Court of the University of Oxford for having Written and Printed in the Second Volume of his Athenae Oxonienses divers infamous Libels against the Right Honourable Edward late Earl of Clarendon Lord High Chancellor of England and Chancellor of the said University and was therefore banished the said University until such time as he shall subscribe such a public Recantation as the Judge of the Court shall approve of and give Security not to offend in the like nature for the future And the said Book was therefore also decreed to be burnt before the public Theatre and on this Day it was burnt accordingly and public Programmas of his Expulsion are already affixd on the three usual places This Punishment was severe enouf and may warn little ones not to provoke the Powerful But as to what he has written against the Bishop of Salisbury I freely forgive him for this reason but before I declare it give me leave to tell a short Story which I heard at Rome There was heretofore in that City a famous Confessor who finding that Age and Infirmity had impaird his Memory fearing this might render him unfit for his Profession made use of this Invention to remedy that defect He had always in readiness when any Penitent repaird to him to Confess a Board and a piece of Chalk with which he scord their Sins using several Marks according to their degrees It happened that one confessd he had kild a Man That 's a great Sin said the Father and made a long Chalk upon the Trencher After that he confessd he had got a Bastard Was it said the Ghostly Father very gravely a Male or Female The Penitent answerd it was a Man-Child Say you so replied the Priest A Man is Kild and another got in his stead set one against the other then spitting upon his Fingers rubs out the Chalk To apply this the reason I promised to give for my Absolving Mr. Wood is this He had written much good of the Bishop of Salisbury and truly and but a little bad and that falsly Set one against the other and let it be as if he had never done either the one or other And here I should dismiss Mr. Wood and close this Chapter had I not a just cause of quarrelling with him upon mine own account for having endeavourd to rob me of my deserved Praise and to obscure the most glorious Action of my Life Diripere Ausus Haerentem Capiti multa cum laude Coronam In not mentioning that famous Contestation concerning Formalities which I have describd at large in the fifth Chapter or my being Proctor but out of Ignorance or Design either of which is sufficient to ruin the Credit of an Historian he has falsified the History having made the Proctors Bifield and Conant serve for the Years 1657 and 1658 which is not only notoriously untrue but also it thrusts my College and my self out of the Fasti or the University Chronicles which is an intolerable grievance to Persons thirsty of Fame and ambitious of Honour But for our comfort whoever consults the University Register or the Convocation Books will be easily and clearly convincd of the truth of what I have here asserted Hence I conclude if he may not be credited in a Matter so notoriously known and of such importance to his History we may with good reason suspect the Character he gives of a Person with whom I firmly believe he never had any Conversation CHAP. XXIV Of the Bishops Sickness and Death THE Bishop of Salisbury dated his indisposition of Health from a Fever he had in London in the Year 1660 which was not well cured as we have mentioned before he was very ill when he was to be consecrated Bishop of Exeter and not without apprehension that he should not survive that Solemnity It was a cold rainy morning when I waited on him to Lambeth when he was to be consecrated and he had not been out of his Chamber for some Weeks before He went Sick to Exeter and was confind to his Chamber a long while yet he remitted nothing of his Study during that time he made the Notitiae of his Diocese mentioned in the ninth Chapter But his often travelling betwixt Exeter and London conduced much to the meliorating of his Health and enabled him to endure his Malady tho not wholly to subdue it I have heard him say that Colds to which he was very subject never accompanied him the whole Journey but always left him before he reachd Salisbury either in his going to London or returning to Exeter After he was Bishop of Salisbury he was seizd by a dangerous scorbutical Atrofy and Looseness as we have said in the ninth Chapter which was cured by riding t is a very good Recipe but a dear one â„ž caballum that is Up and ride After he left off this Exercise by which he receivd so much good he complaind of a pain in his Toe tho I believd then that the Malady was in his Head but I found he was displeasd at my telling him so I went upon this reason upon Inspection no Artist could tell